Much improved parts spec highlights 2015 version

Like the gangly freshman football player that shows potential early on but doesn’t live up to his potential until a year or two down the road, the value-packed 2015 GT Sensor X Pro is making a bid for the most improved bike award.

We tested the 2014 version of this 27.5-inch wheeled bomber for our Enduro Compare-O back in February and had a hard time getting over its out-of-touch parts spec. For 2015 GT got serious and delivered what looks like a winner–a sub $4000 bike that includes a Shimano XT/Race Face Evolve 1×10 drivetrain (with an E-Thirteen 42-tooth low gear adapter), RockShox Pike 150mm-travel fork, FOX Float CTD rear shock, KS LEV Integra adjustable seatpost, WTB ST 123 wheelset shod with Continental Mountain King Tires, and Shimano’s reliable SLX disc brakes. With 130mm of rear travel, an all-aluminum frame, and a low slung and clean demeanor, we’ve got the Sensor on our short list of “must test” 2015 bikes.

Chicago-born Don Palermini became a cycling-based life-form in the sixth grade after completing a family road bike tour of his home state. Three years later he bought his first mountain bike to help mitigate the city's pothole-strewn streets, and began exploring the region's unpaved roads and trails. Those rides sparked a much larger journey which includes all manner of bike racing, commuting, on- and off-road bike advocacy, and a 20-plus-year marketing career in the cycling industry that landed him at his current gig with Santa Cruz bicycles. Now residing in the San Francisco Bay Area, his four favorite words in the English language are "breakfast served all day," together in that order.